Page 38 of Dear Glory

“I was only gone a second…”So long? I only stepped out for a bit to get some fresh air. Why is he making it seem as if I was out the entire month?

“Don’t patronize me, Glory. You were out three hours, forty-eight minutes and twenty-eight seconds longer than usual…” he grits out. “Do you think I’m stupid? Do you really think I’m going to let you leave me?” His chest rises and falls like he’s having a panic attack, clutching at it.

“Whoa…” I reel back, holding up my hands. “First, you need to calm down, and second, if I was planning to leave, I sure as hell wouldn’t have been off feeding ducks. I just needed some time to think, Axil.”

“T’ink about wat?! An’ why are yu lyin’ tu me? Yu were clearly feedin’ pigeons!” he grits, emotions dragging out his accent again.

“I… first off, how did y—” I stop when I turn and see my two shadows behind me.Of course…“Ignoring that… what else would I think about, Axil?! I was thinking about us! And how I feel about dating a married man. It was fine when it was only sex, but… my feelings have grown since then, and no matter how much I care about you, I can’t not protect myself from heartache.”

“What heartache?! If you’d only listened to me instead of storming off, you’d know there’s no one but you!”Calm down… getting angry isn’t worth it.

“Axil, it matters not if I’m the only one. You are still married… in this situation, I’m still considered the other woman. That’s why I asked when your divorce would be finalized. I needed to know if I had to leav—” He snatches me up so quickly I nearly get whiplash as he slams me against the car. Even though he protects my head, his other hand wraps tightly around my neck and is bound to cause a bruise. I’m so shaken I can only fearfully watch like a deer in headlights.

“SIR, WH?—”

“Glory,” he seethes. “I will kil?—”

“Ahem!” Lawrence clears his throat and Fabian steps up, gently removing his hand from my neck.

“Mr. O’Hara, didn’t you come all the way up here to ask Ms. Glory on a date?” Fabian beams as Lawrence fixes my clothes and picks up the bag I’d dropped.

“I…” Sir shakes his head as if trying to clear it. His face falls when his eyes land on my neck. To say the look on his face is anything other than heartbreaking would be a belittlement of what is portrayed. “G-Glory…” He staggers back, clutching his chest, but Fabian catches him.

“She’s okay, Mr. O’Hara. We would never let anything happen to her,” he steadies him, and a sudden realization comes over me.

Wait… could Lawrence and Fabian be here not to protect Sir from other people, but to protectmefrom Sir?No… that can’t be.But now that I think about it, that’s why they are always with me when I’m here and in the room instead of with him. They never leave my presence… what the hell could he do to me that would make him need guards?

“S-sir…” I step closer to him, but he takes a step back, fear written in his eyes, and it shatters me to pieces.

“Stop, Glory… I don’t want to hurt you again.”

“You’re not going to hurt me, Sir. That was just a mistake… mistakes happen.” I step closer to him, placing my hand on his. He goes to snatch it back, but I grasp it tightly and place it around my neck.

“Glory…” his pupils dilate, voice laced with promise of something sinister.

“You won’t hurt me.” I stare into his eyes, fully trusting him. He swallows hard, eyes traveling from my neck to my lips to my eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he whimpers.

“I know.”

“Please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t.”

“I love you…” he chokes out in anguish. I take the last step and completely break, shattering the remaining pieces of my oldself and falling prey to this imperfect man as I place an all-encompassing kiss upon his lips.

“I love you too, Sir.”

Chapter 13

Manifesting Glory

GLORY

The wind blows so hard that Sir places his coat over my face. As he walks, the scent of saltwater hits my nose, getting me excited even with the blindfold on.

When Sir said we were going on his boat, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I even made Sir and I matching swimwear!

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